The present invention relates to an electronic musical instrument having a cover with an operation panel.
Various types of electronic keyboard instruments such as compact electronic organs, keyboards and music synthesizers generally have an operation panel with various operation switches. When the operation panel having a main electric circuit is incorporated in the main body of the electronic keyboard instrument, no wiring problem occurs. However, when the operation panel is incorporated in the cover which can be freely opened with respect to the main body, wiring between the cover and the main body must be considered. For example, an electric circuit incorporated in the main body is connected to various types of operation switches arranged in the cover through external wiring. In this case, the cord holes must be formed in the main body and the cover. When excessively large holes are formed, the cords are externally visible, resulting in poor appearance. However, when excessively small holes are formed, the cords are flexed when the cover is opened or closed. This may lead to incomplete electrical connections or to disconnections.
On the other hand, connectors may be mounted in the main body and the cover. In this case, cables each having plugs or receptacles at two ends are connected to the connectors in the main body and in the cover when the electronic keyboard instrument is used. However, the cable connections are required every time the electronic keyboard instrument is used, resulting in cumbersome operation.
The operation panel incorporated in the cover is generally arranged on the upper main body panel behind the keyboard or on the inner surface of the cover. When the operation panel is arranged in the cover, a very limited space is formed between various switches of the operation panel and the main body when the cover is closed, thus limiting design concepts. In addition, an electronic musical instrument of slim construction cannot be prepared. The switches cannot be arranged in the vicinity of a pivot portion of the cover (in order to prevent the switches from contact with the main body when the cover is closed), thus disabling effective utilization of the entire area of the operation panel.
In a conventional electronic keyboard instrument of this type, a special music stand is not used, and an operation panel surface of a cover serves as the stand for a music sheet. However, a player cannot operate the instrument controls since they are covered by the music sheet, thus disabling desired musical performance. In order to solve this problem, the player memorizes the music that he is going to play, or plays the music while the corresponding music sheet is set at a side of the operation panel. Although a music stand is provided in a main body as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,947 or Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 57-20791, a storage space of the music stand is increased and the operability of the control switches behind the music sheet held on the stand is not improved.